Doorway Report Published – “Needs, Impact and the Future”

Introduction to the report:

This report analyses the data collected by the Doorway 2012 Annual Survey. We aim to document and explore the types of needs presented to the organisation by our guests, how we engage with these needs, the impact our service has on guests and how we can support them in the future.

Doorway takes a holistic approach to supporting our guests by attempting to meet more than just immediate needs. We recognise the importance of a guest-led method of support with staff and volunteers adopting the role of enablers of change. Our Vision states:

We believe that homeless and marginalised individuals are capable of change and will only achieve their full potential when offered a safe, supportive, empowering and non-judgemental environment – it is our vision to provide such an environment and meaningful activities which will help reverse the spiral of homelessness.

We understand homelessness to be an issue of multi-deprivation covering complex issues including substance misuse, mental health and education. To this end we work to engage with all the areas of guests’ lives in which they may be experiencing difficulty. This ranges from providing advocacy work in regards to engaging with other agencies, providing an environment where triage for drug and alcohol issues can take place to simply playing table tennis. Our approach can be described, using the words of Gerard Lemos, as valuing ‘the importance of understanding the vulnerable person needing support as a whole, a multi-faceted individual with a complex identity and with social and emotional aspirations as well as practical ones’.

The ‘Needs, Impact and the Future’ report on findings from the guest survey completed in 2012 is available from the Doorway website

Article & Report written by Helen Taylor, Doorway Volunteer December 2012